If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. If you don't like Google AdSense in the posts, register or log in above.

importing data from outlook with excel

February 11th, 2003, 22:33

Hi, I want to import data to Excel 2000 that comes from a website stats app. This data will be emailed to me at 12.00am on a weekly or monthly basis and it will then need to be dropped into Excel. So I think I need to know how to get Excel to automatically import a file from an external source but in that case how does Excel know that the file has arrived, is there some sort of date/time function to it or do I have the wrong tool for the job and should be looking at a DB to do this for me? I wanted to do this in Excel because it would automatically update the charts it generates. Thanks for any help, great board.

Comment

Hi Dreamboat, thanks for your reply, the data will be in .csv format attached as a file to the email. I have the option of &#039;picking up&#039; the data myself but as this would probably involve an even more complex operation than emailing the files I&#039;d rather try this way first. The application the data comes from is a server based web stats program with a built-in email client, I can automate the program to email reports to me in .csv format but from what I&#039;ve read so far a web query seems to involve a specific URL and the program I use generates these reports in a cgi-based interface where the actual URL never changes.

Comment

Hi XL-Dennis, if by the above event you mean having the program I use automatically/remotely producing the individual reports then the above event is insurmountable. It cannot be done through automation. Perhaps if I outline what I want to do and why then someone may have an idea of how to go about it.
I produce web stats reports for 15 different sites every month in XL and instead of manually inputting the data into the sheets I would like to have the program I use email the data to me and then somehow extract that data and place it in the sheets. The first problem I have is how to take that data out of the emails and place it in XL, which is why I&#039;m here. I have read that Outlook can export data so maybe I have this back to front and it&#039;s Outlook I should be asking about and not XL. Any thoughts?

Comment

Thanks for your help, this is really good of you both.
The email client I use is Outlook but I can use OE if thats any easier to do this in. The attached files would be right where they are when they arrive in the email.